"Chickie Mischief"

This is what happens when Ellington is left to entertain herself.  She crawled in there all by herself. 

What can I say... she loves the bath tub!

(Look at that hair!)

"The Sucker Fairy"

Due to the fact that we have three kids in a span of 4 years, and a 3 bedroom house, two of our kids have to share a room.  Which I don't have a problem with, until it's bedtime.  Campbell and Adelai share a bedroom and every night it is a battle to get them to calm down and go to sleep. Campbell thinks it's playtime.  Eric and I can hear the squeaking of her bed as she jumps up and down in it.  Lovely.  And because Campbell is "so annoying" to Adelai, Adelai gets out of her bed and comes to tell us that Campbell is keeping her awake.  Now Eric and I are much smarter than she realizes because we know it isn't just Campbell making all the noise.  She is just as guilty!  Plus she is amazing at coming up with reasons for why she is up; "my toe hurts...I forgot to dry my hair...Campbell woke me up (note that it is only 2 minutes after we have put them down).  So in an effort to stop the madness, I called on some friends on facebook for some help.  My A-MA-ZING friend Brooke Tigtig said that it was time for a visit from "The Sucker Fairy."  She told me to tell the girls that if they were quiet and went to sleep without making noise and without getting out of bed, that the sucker fairy would come and put a sucker under their pillow while they were sleeping.  The joy and excitement in their eyes when I told them about the sucker fairy was beyond enough confirmation to know that this was a good idea.  So, after explaining the sucker fairy over and over (and over, again), we gave it a shot one night.  COMPLETE SILENCE.  It was like someone had come in and stolen my children out of their beds!  Victory! It feels good.  So the next night we went for round 2.  It was not at all what I call a victory.  So there was no sucker fairy.  Night three round 3....complete  silence.  We'll see if it takes and if it's something that will keep working for them.  Though I have to say I am concerned about their teeth in this whole process.  Best part of this experience is walking into their room in the morning at 7:30am to Campbell sitting up in her bed sucking on that sucker!  She was so happy.

"Bless you, Keep you."

Numbers 6:24-26

"The Lord Bless you and keep you.  The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Lord turn his face towards you, and give you his peace."

We had the honor of spending 2 years in a small group of amazing people who will prayerfully be my friends for life.  And during this small group we studied the book called "The Family Blessing".  Basically it broke down the concept of blessing your children.  Eric and I had never heard of this but we were excited about a new way to incorporate scripture into our children.  What you do is, pick a verse that speaks one of God's blessings over his people, and at night while tucking your children in, place your hand on their chest and recite the verse while looking them in the eyes.  It doesn't sound like much, but first of all, speaking truth over your children is so essential.  And secondly, they need to hear you reciting scripture out loud.  It allows them to see your dependence and faith in God's word.  It also allows them to hear God's word.  AND it allows them to eventually memorize God's word.  Now at night as we are tucking our children in for bed, they ask for their blessing.  It has now gotten to the point where Campbell will say "Bless you, Keep you.  Bless you, Keep you." , in sort of a worried voice...like we're going to forget.  And if we don't place our hand on her chest, she pats her chest until you do.  Blessing our children has gone from this foreign idea that we read in a book to this amazing gift that the Lord has given us.  Adelai now recites it along with us.  So like I said, not only do they hear God's word, they now KNOW God's word.  And that's the best gift you could ever give your children, as far as I'm concerned.

My Beloved, Mine, I His

This morning I woke up to Adelai breathing in my face asking me for Cheerios.  It's a typical Sunday morning already.  This week has been fast paced with so many things going on, but I am looking forward to church so much.  I'm ready to worship the Lord in music and hear about his truth.  But the truth of our household hit when Ellington woke up with a fever, therefore putting an end to my church experience for the day.  The other two girls and Eric headed out the door and I have to say I was sad to see them go without me.  But then I found myself somewhat thankful for the time I would have to spend with my sweet Ellie Paige.  We played for a while but due to her fever, she was ready to go back to bed.  I put her down, started cleaning around the house, and then found myself stopped dead in my tracks as the words to the song "My Beloved Mine, I His", were playing in the background of my house.  The spirit called to my heart.  I was struck by the words..."Mighty God.  Faithful One.  My Beloved.  My Beloved.  You're the lamb of God.  You're the Holy One.  My Beloved.  My Beloved.  My Beloved."  Words that pierce my heart and rock the core of me.  The peace and comfort in these words has at the same time brought perspective of my sin of putting my selfish desires before Him and His will for my life and my family's life.  HE is the Mighty God.  HE is the Faithful One.  HE is the lamb of God.  HE is the Holy One.   NOT ME!  How wonderful is the Savior's love for me...I am HIS and HE IS MINE!

Jesus change my heart...
I long to live for you and you alone...

(Song:  My Beloved, by Chris Tomlin)

Look at you living the mini-van dream...

I'm sure all of you out there have just been dying for this moment, but the Hoskins family finally has a blog!!  Three kids later, and I think I have some things to blog about.  It's not going to be some awesome, super-mom blog where I look like I have everything together because then that would be a blog full of LIES!  So here you will get an honest look at life for us as a family of 5 with three small children, on Young Life staff.

Where to start..We are a Young Life family of five.  .Adelai is 4, Campbell is 2 1/2 and Ellington is 1 1/2.  My three sweet, precious girls keep Eric and I busy but we would have it no other way.  Eric and I have been married for 6 years now and it keeps getting better with age!  My 30th birthday is coming up and I feel like I should be turning 25.  So driving my minivvan still seems sureal.  But as the card my great friend Jenna sent me, says, "look at you living the mini-van dream", it just seems to fit me like a glove.

Adelai started preschool in August.  She is attending Webster Christian School in the 4k class.  We are so blessed to have been given a scholarship to this amazing Christian school.  We feel so blessed and I find myself thanking God daily for the gift of her school.  She is learning so much and absolutely LOVES school.  She is so smart.  One day she came home and asked me if I had ever heard of the Luve.  You can imagine my amazement since I'm pretty sure I didn't know what the Luve was until I saw The DaVinci Code a few years ago.

I am working at The Swanky Stork and love it.  It's a great way for me to work for friends who I adore and for me to be out of the house using the other side of my brain.  Thanks Bryson, MaryAnn and Beth!!  I also am helping out Torry Patton with some MasterMinds research.  Thanks Torry!! :)

We have been having lots of fun here at the Hoskins household.  We've been to the McWane science center, we've been watching some UT Football...Go Vols...seen our first movie in the theatres (well the first movie for Adelai and Campbell), had a daddy-daughter chick-fil-a date night, $1 haircuts, and just having silly time around the house.  Here are some pictures...

The Lord is faithful.  He is merciful and He is powerful. 

And we are so thankful for these truths in our lives.